Weekly Geeks - The Birth of a Reader

Weekly Geeks is a weekly book meme in which a question is posed to get bibliophiles blogging about a specific book related topic. I don't always remember to check Weekly Geeks and I'm not always inspired to answer the questions, but this week's question brought to mind a life changing moment in my life.

For this week's Weekly Geek installment, we're asked "to think back to the moment when you realized "I am a reader!"

I can remember this moment vividly. I was 10 years old and in the fifth grade. I had made a new friend, Kim, who always seemed to have an interesting book in her desk. I asked her about the source of these books and she replied that she got them at the public library. What? The public library? I knew about the school library - we had weekly library time- but I didn't know anything about the public library. (Not exactly sure why my parents never introduced this free public institution to my brother and me. It may have had something to do with being young and unsophisticated and simply being focused on making ends meet. Truthfully, I don't think it ever occurred to them). Anyway, I asked my mom if she would take me to the library. Next thing I knew I was standing in the children's room of my town library and the kind librarian was showing me around. I was awestruck. I couldn't believe that such a heavenly place existed. And I could take out as many books as I wanted. The choices were limitless. I can picture this moment so clearly. The sun coming in the window above the low bookcase against the wall. I can see my ten year old self choosing a Katie John book (does anyone remember this series by Mary Calhoun) and taking it to the desk and checking it out with my brand new library card. I had always enjoyed reading and as cash strapped as my parents were, I was always allowed to purchase books from the monthly Scholastic book order. But it was this moment, this defining moment, when the world of books and reading was revealed to me. My options were limitless. The world was my oyster. I was a Reader, with a capital R.

Garfield - My Soul Mate

James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, not the orange cat! He's either my soul mate or I'm his reincarnation. I'm not kidding. Last week, the book club I run at the library read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Assassination Vacation is a non-fiction book documenting Vowell's experience with historical tourism. She decided to take her love of history and her fascination with the macabre and write a book incorporating her vast amount of research and her visits to historical sites associated with the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. The book was OK. I learned a lot about American history of those periods and about Garfield and McKinley - two of the more obscure American Presidents. Vowell's writing style is one that is both witty and sarcastic and her book reads like a series of blog posts.

The book really doesn't merit a blog post from me, but what does is former President Garfield himself. What I learned from Assassination Vacation is that Garfield was a voracious reader. He was frequently found within the stacks of the Library of Congress. He had a special reading chair designed with one side arm higher than the other, because he liked to sit sideways with his legs draped over one arm of the chair - not very Presidential. His diaries are filled with entries lamenting the fact that his governmental duties were keeping him from reading his newly arrived 26 volume collection of the complete works of Goethe. He even writes, "Perhaps that study of literature is fullest which we steal from daily duties". There is some sad wisdom in that statement for all confessed bookworms.

According to Vowell, the recurring theme in Garfield's diaries is: I'd rather be reading. Hey, me too! His regret over a lack of time for reading is even reflected in the commencement address he gave at Hiram College in 1880. As quoted in Assassination Vacation, he told the graduates:

It has occurred to me that the thing you have, that all men

have enough of is perhaps the thing that you care for the least,

and that is your leisure - the leisure you have to think;

the leisure you have to be let alone; the leisure you

have to throw the plummet into your mind, and sound the

depth and dive for things below.

Wow! This is the rousing speech he gives to recent graduates to go out and grab the world by the tail? Interesting. I like it! Echoes my feelings exactly. As I said, he's either my soul mate or I'm his reincarnation. Who knew a long assassinated and mostly forgotten President could be so fascinating?

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